Sodium In Cottage Cheese

Cottage cheese is not a low sodium food by any means. While cottage cheese contains less sodium in comparison to many other dairy foods, the sodium in cottage cheese is still very high. Let’s take a look at a comparison of sodium in a selection dairy products. Note that the comparison is for a 1-ounce serving size for all products. When it comes to cottage cheese, most people will eat at least a half cup (4 ounces) per serving.

Dairy Product - 1 oz serving size

Sodium (mg)

Cottage Cheese 2%

87

Cottage Cheese 1%

115

Cheddar Cheese

185

Colby Cheese

171

Cream Cheese

89

Brie

178

Gouda

232

Provolone

248

Parmesan (hard)

390

Buttermilk

58

Whole Milk

13

Heavy Whipping Cream

8

Blue Cheese

325

Mozzarella Cheese (Whole Milk)

178

The recommend sodium per day varies based on what agency you ask. Generally, the range is between 1500 – 2300 mg per day. If you eat a cup of cottage cheese, you are consuming about half of the 1500 mg recommended sodium per day. This is a lot of sodium considered it is only coming from a small portion of one food.

There are low sodium cottage cheese products available if you love cottage cheese but can’t eat it because of the excessive sodium. Check out our article on low sodium cottage cheese brands for a list of products with either no salted added or less sodium added than traditional cottage cheese. The downside to eating low sodium cottage cheese is the taste for some people. Sodium plays an important role in maintaining the traditional cottage cheese taste. By eliminating or greatly reducing the sodium you alter the classic cottage cheese taste.